Happy Monday!

My ass was sick yesterday. I’m still sort of sick but I’ve got shit to do including this blog. As I discussed in my Sellout one, I’m going to start to review movies. But I didn’t delve into much is that they’ll be both indie films and big studio films. I’ll be honest that sometimes it seems that this line is completely blurred for there are often big names attached to “indie projects.” My guess is that these are likely passion projects that the names weren’t able to get funded from the “traditional sources” i.e. the big studios.

Other indie projects are like mine where we want to make films. As a result, we find a way to make it happen. This is actually a very exciting process. I truly love it. And I’m going to continue to find a way to make it happen whether I have the studios to back me up or not. There are many filmmakers out there with this same idea. And I feel I would be remiss if I don’t talk about indie films too.

But here in lies the dilemma that plagues many movie reviewers… It’s that indie films can’t be measured with the same yardstick of big studio films. Indie films simply don’t have access to the same amount of resources. Yes. Resources can be interchangeable for money in that money can make so many more resources happen than if filmmakers pull in favors. This isn’t to say that favors can’t be amazing for they sure can. I’m just saying.

Please don’t read this to mean that I will play softball with indies and baseball with the big studio films. I just won’t be pissed that the indie film doesn’t have that perfect jib shot to have better encapsulated a moment. My interest instead is to find out how the indie films actualized that it in a more creative way.

And indie films can often be far more creative because they don’t have the pressure to have incredible box office weekends. An example is that movie SWISS ARMY MAN from a few years back. It clearly had some money but not a significant amount. The thing that it really had was imagination in that Daniel Radcliffe (Yes, famous for Harry Potter) played a dead body that went along for most of the ride. It was from the writing/directing team called the “Daniels.” They did such fun things like the video “Turn Down for What.” One of the Daniels (Dan Kwan) is even the main dancer in it.

My point is that you don’t necessarily need a lot of money to make a good movie. You need a great story and good/great characters. This can be possible regardless of the pyrotechnics or anything else used to jazz the movie up. And some movies even have amazing stories and characters with all sorts of fancy gizmos to help actualize them. It’s a matter of having the patience to truly develop them to their full potential instead of half-assing it. This happens with all levels of films at different times. It’s our job to understand why and come up with how we can learn to do better.

Okay… Have a great night!

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